Survey Identifies Top Data Security Technologies to Stem Data Breaches

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. and PHOENIX, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Imperva, the leader in data security, and Securosis today announced the findings of a comprehensive independent data security survey of more than 1100 U.S. and multinational IT security practitioners. The survey focused on uncovering what technologies security practitioners find successful to mitigate breaches and comply with security mandates.

In particular, the survey found that the most effective data security approach involves a modern approach that uses technology to protect applications and databases alongside traditional approaches. For example, web application firewalls were among the top five rated technologies for reducing the number of data breach incidents.  Others technologies included network data loss prevention, full drive encryption, server/endpoint hardening, and endpoint data loss prevention.

The survey also found:

• Malicious intentions are behind 62 percent of data theft. Insider breaches comprised 33 percent of incidents while hackers comprised 29 percent; the remaining breaches were accidental.
• Nearly two-thirds of organizations either didn't know if they suffered any data breach incidents, or stated that they didn't experience any. Of those that did, 46 percent saw a decline in breaches while 27 percent reported the same number of breaches from the previous year.

"Data security is an emerging practice requiring practitioners to navigate numerous mandates, threats and technologies," said Amichai Shulman, Imperva's CTO.  "This survey will help security teams identify what their peers find successful and hopefully help make improvements to their own strategy and operations."

Additionally, the survey found that enterprise data security initiatives have accelerated data security as data theft and monetization become the ultimate goal for hackers and malicious insiders. Intense regulatory scrutiny continues to drive many data security initiatives. In fact, 88 percent of respondents noted that PCI-DSS was the primary driver for their information security program. Organizations are challenged with securing their data and maintaining regulatory compliance while controlling cost, complexity and risk.

The independent survey, designed with public review to ensure objectivity, was conducted by analyst firm Securosis in June and July 2010. Organizations across all major vertical markets and company sizes were surveyed. Analysis was performed independently of sponsorship and the complete anonymized data set will be released under a Creative Commons license for public review and analysis.

"This survey illustrates that data security as a practice has transitioned past early adopters and significantly penetrated the early mainstream of the security industry," said Rich Mogull, CEO and analyst with Securosis, an independent research firm specializing in information security. "Given what's at stake, we are pleased to put numbers behind what we all hoped – that organizations are starting to take data security more seriously."

Security professionals can take the survey to compare their data security practices to other survey respondents by visiting: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/38Q9Y5Q

About Imperva

Imperva is the global leader in data security. With more than 1,200 direct customers and 25,000 cloud customers, Imperva's customers include leading enterprises, government organizations, and managed service providers who rely on Imperva to prevent sensitive data theft from hackers and insiders. The award-winning Imperva SecureSphere is the only solution that delivers full activity monitoring for databases, applications and file systems. For more information, visit www.imperva.com, follow us on Twitter or visit our blog.

About Securosis

Securosis is an information security research and advisory firm dedicated to transparency, objectivity, and quality. The analysts and contributors at Securosis are totally obsessed with improving the practice of information security, by helping end users save money and do their job better and faster. Securosis cuts through the noise and provides clear, actionable, pragmatic advice on securing your organization. Following the guiding principle of Totally Transparent Research, Securosis is a new breed of analyst firm providing nearly all research for free on its corporate blog. You can find out more about Securosis at http://securosis.com and check out the blog at http://securosis.com/blog.  

SOURCE Imperva